Actually, Atlas, the big bipedal robot from the Google-owned, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-spin-off robotics company Boston Dynamics, has been around for a while. It showed up at the DARPA Robotics Challenge and showed promise as a futureemergency rescue bot. But now its engineers have taken it outside, where the terrain is less predictable than the smooth surface of a laboratory floor.

"You can't predict what it's going to be like [out in the world]," Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics, said during the 11th International Fab Lab Conference. "All kinds of stuff happens out there, and we're making pretty good prog on making it so it has mobility that's sort of within shooting range of yours."

It doesn't have the juggernaut-ish coordination of a Terminator or the Sentinels from X-Men, mostly because its power tether makes it look like a baby on a leash at Disney World. But its ability to navigate over uneven terrain and also run in an uncannily human manner shows the progress Atlas is making. It started as a simple robot that can get hit without falling, and now it's a contender for the next life-saving machine.

Google bought Boston Dynamics in 2013, and it's now part of Alphabet's super cool, semi-secretive Google X lab. Google X is basically the DARPA of Silicon Valley. It's the branch responsible for any biotechnology or automation projects, including self-driving cars and Internet-access balloons.